Urijah Faber wants to help build up the bantamweight division

UFC bantamweight Urijah Faber may be one of the smaller fighters on the organization’s roster but he’s definitely one of the biggest stars. “The California Kid” has been competing at a high level for a long time including a stint in WEC as champion where his personality and passion for the sport helped push Faber to the forefront of fighters under 155 pounds.

However, outside of Faber, there aren’t a lot of divisional draws. It’s a situation the 33-year old hopes to help remedy before he’s done in the Octagon, showing a willingness to face all-comers – including his friend Scott Jorgensen tomorrow night at the Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale – in order to share the spotlight constantly shining in his direction.

“I feel like every fight in this division is high risk, low reward for me because I’ve got one of the bigger names in the lighter weight divisions. Whatever that’s a testament to – whether it’s my fighting over the years, being a world champion before, or people liking my personality – whatever the case, I have one of the more notable names in the sport, for the lighter weights especially, so at this point, every fight is riskier for me on that front,” admitted Faber in a recent interview with the UFC’s website. “I don’t have a lot of noteworthy, big name opponents. In the 205-pound division, there’s Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua and Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, and on and on and on; all these guys that have been around and in the limelight for a long time. You have names that draw like Rashad Evans and all this history to the weight class. (Taking this fight) is doing what I think is important in building the weight class, and bringing a light to other fighters in the division.”

While Faber understands his own stock could take a significant hit by taking on foes that aren’t necessarily famous, the Team Alpha Male founder isn’t concerned about his popularity or future prospects.

“For me, I have to go back to the reason why I started this sport, be thankful for everything that I have, and make sure that I’m doing it because I want to go out there, perform, and have fun. That’s what I have to go back to,” explained Faber. “I’ve never been a guy that’s worried about money. It’s come to me, and I’m very fortunate, and very thankful, but as soon as I start dwelling on that type of thing is when I have my mind in the wrong place.”

Faber is 27-6 in his career and is coming off an opening round submission of Ivan Menjivar in January. Comparably, Jorgensen is 14-6 with similar success in his last outing. Fans can catch the two in headlining action on FX with main card action firing up at 9:00 PM EST.